Doc Rivers on Reggie Bullock, Blake Griffin, Redick/Jamal

During Reggie's press conference, Doc was really hyping up what they are going to do with his shooting and defense after working him out and taking him through training camp, so it does really seem like he wants to play him. He moves off the ball well, so he can do a little bit of the off ball action.

Listened to the Doc interview, and he said he wants to use Blake more facing up but that they will still give him post ups when he has that positioning, which is fine. I actually think Blake's next step is becoming a more proficient face up player which is also tied to him becoming a better shooter. Gentry's experience with Phoenix will really help there in borrowing some of the ways they used Amare. A,are is a far superior shooter and face up player to Blake, but Blake is actually a far superior back to the basket guy and passer. If Blake had Amare's shooting and face up ability, combined with his finishing, back to the basket, court awareness and passing, he would actually be the league's best overall offensive player. People don't really realize this.

Doc, Reggie and all mentioned what I was saying earlier about Redick using screens. Off-ball guys like Ray, Rip, etc are creating shots with their off-ball movement and usage of screens. Not every player can do that. In addition it occupies the defense and draws defenders, so it opens up shots for the screener. I've mentioned the dump down pass a few times, I love that play. The screener runs off the screen, his man gets stuck, the opposing big man has to chose: stay with his man and Redick scores or come help and Redick makes a bounce pass to the open screen man who then has a clear lane to the basket unless the opposing big man helps which gives his big man buddy an open dunk/layup (dunk with the Clippers of course). Defense hates that play because if the defender can't stick, you're in trouble. I've seen J.J. do that a good amount with the Magic.

Doc also said he immediately called Crawford and asked him if he can do off-screen action because last year Crawford was more iso or spot up with Vinny. As much as we love it, we will probably see less of that this season. I like that, and I actually think it would benefit Crawford a lot if he can use screens effectively because he would still have the on ball and iso ability as a backup plan but it makes him harder to neutralize with a stingy on ball defender like a Tony Allen. Jamal's most effective half court set was spotting up (21.9% of his plays), true for many players (not Blake who was one of the worst in the league), his second most effective was off screens (12.3% of his plays). The bulk of his offense, 24.8% came from isolation, where he scored a respectable 0.95 pts/play and was 27th in the league. Pretty good, though he's no Chris Paul who had 26.2% of his offense from isolation, scored 0.99 pts/play and was 16th in the league.

The other interesting thing from the Stephen A interview is Chris again mentioning his love for Synergy sports website. Great site, but also great to see a player that watches the breakdown of his own and others game and is interested in seeing his effectiveness in different scenario's etc. If nothing, it can help you to see where you are weak and can improve, but it can do a lot more for a player, especially a PG. It can help you to scout new players on your team and see what sets make them most effective before you even get to training camp. It takes a way a learning curve of "oh, he likes curling more than fading off screens", "he prefers coming off coming off his right shoulder, not his left", etc. It can help you see where your teammates are most effective and how you can maximize those types of possessions for them.